Best .45 recipe

This is a discussion on Best .45 recipe within the Reloading forums, part of the Defensive Ammunition & Ballistics category; What primer, powder, and bullets (if store bought) do you use when reloading .45 and why, what do you like about them....

I use Federal primers and Bullseye powder. Bullets tend to be whatever I find on sale when the last batch runs out. I used to use CCI primers but if you didn't have them fully seated they might not go off. I like the Bullseye because it meters well and I can use it for all of the handgun cartridges I load.

Federal primers and Unique here, topped off with whatever cheap 230fmj I have on hand.

I've never had a dud federal primer of any kind, and they're softer than rem's and CCI so you get less light strikes. As far as powder goes it's pretty much a wash, get some titegroup, unique or bullseye and plug it in. Some meter a little better some are a little cleaner but not so much to make a huge difference.

I like lead 200 LSWCs - whatever is cheapest which lately has been Oregon Trail Lasercast - good bullets too! I use the cheapest primers I can find, which is Winchester LPs, and I use Titegroup powder because....its cheap. 4.6 grains per cartridge means that for a pound of powder I can load well over 1000 rounds.

Just plinking, I shoot 4.5 gr Promo powder under a 230gr Oregon Trail cast RN. Every now and then I run a few 185gr Nosler JHPs over a stiff charge of Unique through the gun. All touched off with Win Large Pistol Primers

Accurate No. 5. Made for loading .45 but works for most pistol rounds.
Winchester Primers mostly, because that seems to be the most common around here.
230 Grain Lead Roundnose that I mostly cast. I'll run them around 840 FPS.

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good. ~ Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

That's what load development is all about! Guns, even of the same make, are sometimes very much individuals as are their operators. That's why reloaders will run small batches of different loads to find one that fits their particular setup best.

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good. ~ Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

Cheap and accurate is what reloading will get you. Use cheap components (bullets, primers, and powder) and put them together carefully, and you'll get ammo that's plenty accurate. I can make ragged holes offhand at 7 yards with my reloads - maybe 5-6" at 25 yards. That's all the better I can shoot though - the ammo isn't making the 6" group, my hands and eyes are.